Being
a Jew is not just a means of alleging Jewishness, becoming Jewish overnight, or
using the termto get a husband or
a wife or to seek advantages by thoughtlessly assuring the listener that he or
she will become converted someday.Recently
a group of young folk were told by the Rabbi of aconservative synagogue that he does not question the non-Jew if he or she
saysthat he will convert to marry
a Jewish person but does or does not have theintension of so doing.Being
Jewish is not just a word.A real
and honest conversion is a serious task and needs conviction,belief, and effort.It is not a means of creating more folk who delude themselves
into a label that satisfies their current need.It is by no means a path to achieving a goal which has no
meaning except to the person whose wish is to get what he wants.Judaism is a culture.It
comes with a history, a love of learning, of feeling, of knowing, of
understanding. It is a path, a way of life, of following not only the ten
commandments; of having some knowledge of the “caryagim mitzwot” (613
blessings or good deeds), of special practices, of knowing the real meaning of
the Schabbat, the Holy Days, and much more.It is knowing the importance of not embarrassing others (“mevayisch
machen”); of ideally having a “lev tov” (good heart).The new Jewish person must know and learn the practices from birth to
death of an authentic Jewish individual.He
must know what the meaning of practicing Judaism is about and be aware of the
falsehoods assigned to the Jewish person and be willing to defend his beliefand those of his fellow Jewsif
and when the need arises.

Even
if the well intentioned and honest convert takes on his new obligations, he must
be serious in wanting to be Jewish, because to him it is more important than any
other religion that is in existence.The
person must also know the difficult aspects of his new faithand be willing to defend hisconviction,
his belief, his choice.

It
is a well known fact that when the young Jewish person marries a non-Jew, the
children almost alwaysbecome non
Jews.It is understandable since we
are a very small minority of the world’s population, and it is easier to be of
a larger group of people with a religion which has less strictures, or be an
agnostic.

Even
more difficult than becoming a conservative Jewish person is becoming an
orthodox one.The orthodox rabbi
has to attempt tochange the person's
mind, to talk them out of taking on that responsibility.To become orthodox is exceptionally difficult.The person must want to be converted with his heart, his soul, and his
deeds.To follow the very strict
regimen of orthodoxy, one must follow an exceptionally difficult path.The person does not have the freedom or independence that was his.He must be convinced.He
must give up his former lifestyle, follow a restrictive food law, kashrut, must
not work on the Sabbath or yom tovim (holy days, and there are many), and must
fast on certain special days.The
men must be circumcised (if they were not as a child) and the women have to
attend the Mikvah, a special bath after menstruation (to be clean in a very
special fashion), and much more.

For
those young Jewish men who marry out of their religion, they must remember that
they are giving up their past, their convictions, and a considerable part of
their identity.